California Wildfires Deadliest In State History

People who lived or worked in New York City immediately after 9/11 have vivid memories of bulletin boards and construction barriers near where the Twin Towers stood, and in the entries to Grand Central Terminal with photos and notes of missing family members thumbtacked to them, asking if anyone had any information about what happened to them. Today, the same thing is happening in California. People who are missing family members and friends in the fire zone are going from hospital to hospital, shelter to shelter, posting what amounts to wanted posters asking if anyone has seen or knows anything about a particular person. The process is described by one person trying to track down a friend as "a note in a bottle." Shelters and hospitals are forbidden by law from confirming the presence of somebody except to a relative, usually (unfortunately) the next of kin.

This is a report you are not going to hear from the mainstream media outlets.

These horrendous fires are devastating some of the most beautiful parts of California. I LOVED northern Cali. My prayers go out to those who perished and lost homes, and to those who are still missing family members.

There is a huge difference between 911 in N.Y.C., and these fires.
As this is much larger size of area and terrain involved.

I'll be the first to admit, I've never been involved or around a wildfire, but how are so many people missing? Are these people suspected to be dead or just evacuated without contacting anyone? Just curious. A real bad deal.

I'll be the first to admit, I've never been involved or around a wildfire, but how are so many people missing? Are these people suspected to be dead or just evacuated without contacting anyone? Just curious. A real bad deal.

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At the risk of being That Guy- As a First Responder in college, fires were the worst of some bad stuff. We ran a lot of brush fires, especially. Trying to control a piney, pulp tree fire is tough, but trying to battle those blazes? I seriously can't imagine.

Fires of that scope create their own weather. They're almost like living, sentient entities. Those crews will win the day eventually.

One of the sadder stories, a 100 year old man perished with his 98 year old wife. They had been married 75 years. Their 71 year old son said as sad as it is it was better they went together as he figured that neither would survive apart. The son said that most likely his father was trying to help his wife who had suffered a stroke. The fire was moving so fast they did not have a chance to get out.

That is the wifes's biggest fear. That her 99 year old father and 92 year old mother would not be able to evacuate their home if there was a fast moving fire in their area. There was one in the area about 10-12 years ago.

The raging wildfires across Northern California that have left at least 29 people dead and hundreds missing while scorching the state's famed wine country may have been sparked by downed power lines and blown transformers, according to emergency radio traffic released Wednesday.

State officials have not yet officially said what caused the blazes that have destroyed at least 3,500 homes and businesses. But dispatch audio obtained by KTVU FOX 2 News reveal firefighters in Napa and Sonoma Counties called in more than a dozen reports of downed power lines, live wires, and blown transformers late Sunday in the first hours of the wildfire outbreak.

Multiple fires were reported by firefighters near the sites of downed power lines and fallen trees.

In one radio exchange between firefighters in Napa County, crews called in downed lines and a blown transformer around 9:15 p.m. Sunday. About 15 minutes later, crews also reported a fire in the same area. It was unclear if that particular fire grew into a larger blaze or was contained, according to KTVU FOX 2.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/10/1...y-power-lines-as-death-toll-climbs-to-29.html
The owner of the power equipment, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, said in a statement Wednesday "hurricane-strength winds in excess of 75 mph," and "millions of trees weakened by years of drought and recent renewed vegetation growth from winter storms, all contributed to some trees, branches and debris impacting our electric lines across the North Bay."

Yep, just like the really big wildfires and forest fires around here this late in the season, they generally aren't out until after the snow starts flying. Just like the fire that's burning in Central Idaho. Now that there's snow on top of the mountains and more snow tonight all the way down as low as McCall Donnelly and Cascade hopefully it'll be under control and out soon.

The reason behind all these wild fires is US. Yeah we put em out all the time, to where so much fuel builds up ie; (dead & dry ground cover) to where you can ONLY have huge wild fires. I feel sorry for the people, BUT we are the ones at fault for NOT letting it burn as nature intended !.............

True all this is sad. But California created their own problem/s. When I was a kid I remember fire crews, the CCC (California Conservation Corps) out doing controlled burns. Getting rid of under brush, built up beds of pine needles, layers of leaves, clearing out dead and rotted logs.
California has another problem. Some have heard about it out away from the state, but living in California you get to know the little bugger. He called the pine beetle. He can kill a pine tree quick.
I am not talking about a small amount of under growth, I'm talking 30 years or more. Then when the fires start California wants to give them their own season.

Then add in the water shortage. True California has just started getting some rain. But they did not help their problem. It was the smart people in charge of doing the right thing who drained reservoirs to fix broken pumps, and not do any repairs when the reservoirs were low. No Back years ago before all this rain California drained reservoirs to do repairs, or just drained the reservoirs just to drain them. Then when their is no rain, all of a sudden there is a problem.

The last time I was in California there were signs that farmers had put up bashing the states top political figures. You know the ones, pelosie, finkenstien, yeah those. The reason they did not want the farmers to plant, and they actually stopped the farmers for a long time. Was because of a little fish. A minnow you might say. That was not a digamous fish to the area. California gets irrigation water from the Colorado River. Well this little minnow is native to the Colorado River, and was getting in the irrigation used for farming. OH NO, major panic. We have to stop farming because we have to save this little fish. Forget the birds that were having a field day feasting on these little minnows. The birds were loving it. But the smart people were saying oh we can't be killing those minnows for farm raised food.
Let me tell you on the I-5 from Pumpkin Center North, to Fresno and on up even at the 99 split and on CA-99 (the I-5/CA-99 both run north) it looked like a dust bowl. So you see California created their own problem/s.

Yes it's sad. Like that couple where the husband was 100 and his wife of 97 could not get out of their home. We are all hearing about that. I think their son was 75 and the news interviewed him. BUT where was the couples family???? Why did they NOT go into get them out when they heard and saw that fires had started???
Smart home owners see their property, and start clearing out crap from around their homes, taking out trees from around their houses. I know California is a tree huggin state. But SOMEONE has to have some common sense.
When I was living in Morro Bay they had passed a law that stated you can not cut down a tree more than 5 inches in diameter. To cut down said tree you had to get permission and the city would come out and determine of the tree could be cut down. If that same tree was growing close to the sidewalk and you said hey it is damaging the sidewalk I want to cut the tree down. The city would come out and determine if the tree could be cut down. IN COMES THE KICKER. If the city said NO, you can not cut that tree down because it is more than 5 inches in diameter, you the home owner are NOW responsible for the repair of the sidewalk because the tree is on your property. BUT WAIT THAT IS WHY I WANT TO CUT THE TREE DOWN. Doesn't matter, you now have to pay for the sidewalk to be fixed.
Yeah stupid s**t like that is what you have to deal with in California.

So now we look at the bright side. The hurricanes have left. Gas prices have started to drop. But the price of wine is going to go up A decent bottle of California wine that cost 5 bucks, is now going to cost 30 bucks. Sorry just had to throw that out there. It's the first thing I thought of when they said Napa was on fire. Hey I never said I was right

The reason behind all these wild fires is US. Yeah we put em out all the time, to where so much fuel builds up ie; (dead & dry ground cover) to where you can ONLY have huge wild fires. I feel sorry for the people, BUT we are the ones at fault for NOT letting it burn as nature intended !.............

Mom lives south west of the Anaheim hills area, between the I-5 and the 101 in Leucadia, one of the villages that make up Encinitas. I can walk from her place to Oceanside County and South Ponto Beach in under 10 minutes, and it takes that long because of trying to cross the 101...

Trust me, I was out there 3 years ago and it was horrible. Everything was brown if it wasn't watered regularly. I forget what they call it, but all that scrub brush along the ridges and in the gullies were ripe to burn but no one was allowed to round it up and haul it out. The reason might sound stupid because it was all just about dead, but San Diego County, in their "infinite wisdom" decided it would come back to live and help prevent mud slides if it rained.

Acting ICE Director Tom Homan has announced that the suspected northern California arsonist, Jesus Fabian Gonzalez, is a Mexican national who is in the United States illegally. This supports legal marijuana industry leaders’ fears that the Mexican drug cartels are behind the area’s recent deadly wildfires.
Earlier today, Breitbart reported that Gonzalez is an illegal alien who has twice been deported back to Mexico. Several days ago, the news broke that ICE had formally issued a detainer for Gonzalez.

Authorities initially arrested Gonzalez after they observed him walking out of a park that had just been set ablaze. Gonzalez claimed he had started the fire because he was cold. It was 78 degrees outside at the time.